The coffins are from the New Kingdom, the oldest found so far in the necropolis.
Egypt has discovered a funerary temple and the oldest coffins ever found in Saqqara, revealing several secrets at the ancient burial site and marking another major discovery in the vast necropolis south of Cairo.
The country said a mission led by prominent Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, the former state minister for antiquities, had unearthed the funerary temple of Queen Nearit, the wife of King Tethys – the first pharaoh of Egypt’s sixth dynasty.
The mission also unearthed 52 funeral trees with more than 50 wooden coffins found inside. They date back 3,000 years, the oldest sarcophagi found in Saqqara.
“These coffins are made of wood and anthropoids … many of the gods who were worshiped during this period were depicted on the surface of the coffins, in addition to various fragments from the Book of the Dead that help the deceased go through the journey of the other world,” he said. Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in a statement.
In recent months, Egypt has unearthed hundreds of coffins of high officials and priests in Saqqara, all dating from the late Late and Ptolemaic periods.
The new discovery stands out because older sarcophagi have been found in the New Kingdom, the ministry said. The New Kingdom period lasted from the 16th century BC. until the 11th century BC, covering the Egyptian dynasties of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
“The discovery confirmed that the Saqqara area was not only used for burial in the late period, but also during the New Kingdom,” the statement said.
Another “luxury mud brick altar” was also discovered at a depth of 24 meters below ground level, the deepest well found so far. Hawass said excavations would continue until the burial chamber was discovered.
“Inside the wells, the mission discovered a large number of archaeological artifacts and a large number of statues representing deities such as the god Osiris and Ptah-Soker-Osiris,” the antiquities ministry added.
Egypt has conducted extensive excavations in Saqqara in recent years, leading to a series of discoveries, including the unearthing of a 4,400-year-old royal priest Wahtye’s grave in 2018 and the discovery of hundreds of mummified animals and statues on a year later.
Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany said in November that Egypt could “find graves and wells in every place in the area,” referring to Saqqara, which also houses 13 pyramids.
Egypt hopes the discoveries can help revive the vital tourism industry, which has been hit again by the COVID-19 pandemic as it began to recover from the 2011 and 2013 riots and civil unrest.
Hawass said the latest discoveries in the ancient necropolis will “make Saqqara an important tourist and cultural destination.”
“It will also rewrite the history of Saqqara during the New Kingdom,” he added.